Australia shares higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.67%

Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the IT , Metals & Mining and Resources sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.67%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Metcash Ltd (AX: MTS ), which rose 6.07% or 0.115 points to trade at 2.010 at the close. Beach Energy Ltd (AX: BPT ) added 6.02% or 0.040 points to end at 0.705 and Flight Centre Ltd (AX: FLT ) was up 5.89% or 2.050 points to 36.850 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Sai Global Ltd (AX: SAI ), which lost 6.03% or 0.225 points to trade at 3.505 in late trade. APN News & Media Ltd (AX: APN ) declined 3.57% or 0.025 points to end at 0.675 and Japara Fpo (AX: JHC ) shed 3.11% or 0.090 points to 2.800.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 615 to 379 and 346 ended unchanged on the Sydney Stock Exchange.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX , which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 5.24% to 17.045.

In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was up 0.05% or 0.65 to $1255.45 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 0.78% or 0.38 to hit $49.15 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 0.74% or 0.36 to trade at $49.17 a barrel.

AUD/USD was up 0.14% to 0.7238, while AUD/JPY rose 0.31% to 79.72.

The US Dollar Index was down 0.02% at 95.28.